A new report from the Mediation Institute reviews collective bargaining coverage, union density and membership development in trade unions. The report shows that company size matters a lot when it comes to collective bargaining coverage. Collective bargaining coverage is lowest in companies with fewer than ten employees, but gradually increases with company size. Almost all companies with at least 500 employees have a collective agreement, says the Mediation. A total of 88% of all employees aged 18–66 were covered by collective agreements in 2023. In the public sector, the coverage rate is 100%, while 83% of those working in the private sector are covered by collective agreements. Approximately 90% of all blue-collar workers have a collective agreement, while the equivalent for white-collar workers is 75%. This means that roughly 550,000 employees are not covered by collective agreements.
Read on: in Swedish… Read on: in Swedish (2)…
For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.